End of the Rainbow
by Dark Rabbit
Summary: Post-movie: Imprisoned on Asgard, Loki sinks into a deep depression. Thor begs, and his father provides ...something (but what?)... There is a door, but as to what kind of reality lies behind it, that Loki must find out for himself. Time-travel story, taking place in 1974, as well as the present.
1. Chaos Contained

"All the sad and empty faces

That pass you on the street

All running in their sleep, all in a dream

Every loving handshake

Is just another man to beat

How your heart aches just to cut him to the core.

Life seems so rosy in the cradle,

But I'll be a friend I'll tell you what's in store

There's nothing at the end of the rainbow.

There's nothing to grow up for anymore."

- Richard Thompson

**_The Avengers_****, and ****_Thor,_**** and all situations and characters thereof, belong strictly and solely to Marvel Comics. This is a fan-work, meant for enjoyment only, and not for any material profit.**

"He does not change, Father. Indeed, he grows worse."

Pure generosity on the part of the All-Father, to leave his throne, his duties, to come here to this narrow, unheated corridor.

"Worse, better..." Odin does not even look into the cell. "Who can say, son? He looks the same to me."

_The same_ is bad enough. The tiny, barred window is a poor vantage point, but he can see his brother well enough: Loki sits as he has for days. – Or weeks even, perhaps? – His shoulders are slumped, his head bowed. His eyes are dark smudges against the pale face, the mere slice of it that can be seen from the door. At this angle, easy to pretend that he does not see them, and speaks not for that reason. Thor has been in there though. He has tried speaking to his brother and seen him unresponsive, close to unseeing.

"He ate." His voice comes rougher than Thor expected it, as if grated over the surface of his pain. "Before, he ate."

"And now the food comes back untasted." Odin speaks low, as if to himself.

"A boon, Father." Thor touches his father's arm. "Let him leave the cell, at least for a short time. – Until he is himself again, no more."

But the hand is shaken off and Odin turns. "Your brother is there for good reason, Thor. You know that."

"When I displeased you, you banished me. – Sent me to another realm, merely."

"Your brother went to another realm." Odin's face is wry. "We are still making amends to the people of Midgard."

Amends: Thor is the one making them. He cares not, for Midgard is a second home, but it rankles his father, he knows.

"Father, he will go mad in there."

"He is mad already." An angry voice, a hand, waving toward the cell door, the little window that shows Thor his baby brother, silent, unnaturally still. "He has been mad for a long time now, none of us know how long. Remember his actions while you were on Midgard? Slaughtering Laufey in cold blood? Sending the Destroyer after his own brother? This is merely a new madness."

"Mayhap he will die." It is true, Thor thinks as he says it. Loki is alone. He is tormented by his thoughts. Is there anything he still lives for?

"Mayhap it would be better if he did die." Odin turns away. "My son, I have done all that can be done. Loki has had healers, for his mind as well as his body. That I can provide, for whatever good it does. – Would you have me let him out, so he can rampage again? Would you have more realms destroyed, more innocent lives lost?"

_But Loki too is innocent..._ The thought vanishes as soon as voiced; Thor drives it away. His brother is not innocent. Far from it, he has killed and killed again. And for what? So that he can reign, victor over a captive world? ...So he can take over Midgard?

What was it his brother said: _I remember a shadow, living in the shade of your greatness..._ How long was it that Loki felt that way? How much of himself did he feel he had to hide? – How much of it was hidden only because Thor never looked? Perhaps that's where the innocence went.

"Give him something, Father," Thor says. "Give him freedom, some kind of freedom. I understand that you cannot release him."

* * *

The cell is not soundproofed, but if he tries hard enough, he can will silence. The voices of the other prisoners, the footsteps of gaolers in the hallway, the endless rumble of Thor talk-talk-talking when he visits, all fade away and he is left... What is he left with though, that is the question?

The sick knowledge that he has failed and failed again. Spawn of monsters, he was foolish enough to believe himself better, despite all the times, the many many times, that others turned away, pulled away, showed him by one means or another, that he was not one of them. Ambitious fool, gulled by Odin's pretty tales of two boys born to be king, ignorant of the truth: He has seen Jotunheimr. Kingship there means merely being one brute above the others.

And the Chitauri: The toy-army that was to be his, and he put the Tesseract into Thanos' hands as payment. Did he actually believe those promises? Did he manage to pretend to himself that it made sense to throw himself onto a hostile world and attempt subjugation by his own hands? He was all the more a fool then. Unsurprising that he should have failed.

He thought himself better than the Midgardians, but it was delusion only. Pretty weak mortal creatures, their lives mayfly-short: How quickly they pulled together the force that defeated him. And of what elements did they pull it: The time-stranded soldier, the scientist who's own dark experiments made a monster of him, the two assassins, as much government functionaries as loyalists. – The one with machine embedded in his body: He has been nearer death than any of them, hasn't he? And he spoke as one who knows failure: "You will fail. There's no throne, no version of this where you come out on top."

Sometimes Loki thinks about that one, but not often. Mostly his thoughts are of his own failure, of the crushing hopelessness that is a Frost Giant trying ever, to be anything more than a brute.

He hears it when Thor brings Odin to the cell. The sound of their footsteps, the mumble-mumble of their voices in the hallway. What they're talking about, he doesn't care. Some nonsense of Thor's perhaps – He's always trying to make people do things. – or another chance for the All-Father to get angry. These things never change much, and they never involve him.

Maybe he sees Thor's face peeping through the cell-window. Loki doesn't bother looking a second time to be sure. There's not much point. What's he there for anyhow? "You are still my brother," he'll say, and, "oh Father, Father, look, here is my brother." His "brother". Whom none notices, for looking at his golden glory. As soon be the Jotun monster he was born to be. – As soon be liar, cheat, traitor, imonster/i, all the things the Aesir believe him to be.

And so Loki wills away the golden face in his window. The worried blue eyes, the soft rumble of remonstrances in the hallway, purposefully he ignores them all. A while, and the noises fade; a while longer, and the Golden One is gone as well. He'll sleep, he thinks, as well as he ever sleeps at any rate. ...And when he wakes, things will be the same.


	2. The Door, and What Lies Behind

At first, when he wakes up, Loki doesn't notice anything different. Not that he looks. The room is but a shell, larger, but not much more useful, than the shell of his body. Both imprison him, each in its own way. He rises from the sterile, impersonal cot that has been provided him. He washes, clothes himself with an incantation as always. His same chair reaches for him, at the table where he has sat every day since they brought him here, and he moves across the room, habit taking him there.

Even then, it is not his eyes that note the difference, but his fingers, brushing the wall: A bump of something that was not there before, an unexpected hollow feeling to the wall past it. iThere will be a door-handle next,/i his mind tells him, but he doesn't believe it until he feels it under his hands.

Then, he turns. This door, at right angle to the one he's used to: Whence came it? Loki runs his fingers over it, feels rough wood, crudely worked iron finishings, just like the other one. But there was only one before...

Food sits on the table, the same coarse, prison fare that he has sent back day after day after day. Loki sits. Unthinking, he reaches, picks up the rough barley loaf and takes a bite. Chewing, he stares at the new door. Then, swallowing, he picks up the mug of ale that has been provided and drinks, still staring. He can't see the new smile that curves his lips of course. The change registers only as a faint awakening, to curiosity long thought dead.

The door is Odin's doing of course. But why? What new cruelty has he engineered for one who is _not_ his son, who never was his son? Best, perhaps, to check?

Loki's hand is on the door-handle before he knows he has risen, but he catches himself. Whatever is behind that door is a test of some kind, and when has he succeeded at one of Odin's tests? – No, it is _not_ a test; Thor would have seen to that, begged All-Father away from anything his weakling-brother might fail at. Worse, it is humiliation. It is some play, too easy for a child.

He sits again. He picks up what remains of the loaf, sits dreamily, pulling bits off and dropping them onto the plate. His eyes are on the door, and his face is alert, curious.

Best do what he is going to do ere Thor comes back. – Ere All-Father comes back. If he is going to be humiliated, let it happen while he is alone. The impulse lifts him; it seems to carry him, and now he stands at the door again. In his mind as he touches the door-handle: Fandral, Volstagg, Hogun, all of Thor's friends who have ever laughed at him, or slighted him for being weaker than they. And the latch lifts, and the door swings open.

At first, he cannot make out what he sees inside: Warm light, something square and soft, and a small boy sitting on top of the softness. A little boy with chocolate-brown eyes, and brown hair sticking in all directions. In his hands, an uncouth, box-like structure, like a model of the things Midgardians call "cars".

"Daddy will want to see this."

A soft laugh, heard offstage. "This is a business party, Tony. Your Daddy's going to be busy."

The little boy wriggles. He spins the wheels of the "car". "But he'll want to see it?"

"Yes, yes, dear." Rustle of skirts, soft tap of heels on the carpeted floor. Loki can smell her perfume through the door as she comes in and bends to give the boy a kiss. "Of course he will."

Little arms reach up, stretch, just miss as she turns away. "When?"

She looks back just for a moment. "Perhaps tomorrow."

Oh, those tomorrows that never come! Loki remembers them from when it was himself, trailing behind a golden Someone and never seen. Suddenly he wants very much for someone, anyone, to be there to admire the little boy's "car". And so he walks through the door.

There's a little pointed face looking at him, but no worry, just curiosity in the brown eyes. "Who're you?"

Loki realizes two things at once: One, is that he is looking up at the boy as he comes toward him. The other is that the carpet tickles his toes. He is barefoot, dressed only, he realizes, in the short-hemmed tunic he wore to sleep in when he was very little. Apparently he is a child too?

..._Is_ a child, or _seems like_ a child; he is not sure yet, just which... "I'm Loki." Old habit comes back, and he gives the same sputtering breath he used to, that blew hair out of his eyes when he had to look up at someone.

Tony pats the spot on the bed next to him. "My Daddy's Howard Stark. He runs Stark Industries. What's your Daddy do?"

_My Daddy's a King. I'm just not sure of where..._ Loki climbs up onto the bed. "He does stuff." He puts out a finger and spins one wheel of the "car". "What's this?"

"It's not much." Tony's head droops, spiky hair brushing Loki's cheek. "It's just an RC car. I made it from a kit."

"An 'RC car'?" Loki wonders: Did he see one of those in Manhattan? In Stuttgart perhaps?

"See this?" Tony shoves a machine bristling buttons into his hands. "This makes it go. Want to try it out?"

He has never see a machine such as this. The buttons: Why so many, if only to make one little car go? Loki has no idea which one to push. Randomly, he chooses, presses down. The wheels on the little car whirr to life. Another, and they turn, sharply enough to pinch Tony's little hand.

"Ow! Gimme that!" Suddenly the machine is taken from his hands. "You don't know anything about driving a car!" Tony slides off the bed. "Come on," he says. "I'll show you how it's done."

Tony is another little Thor, never happy unless he's telling someone else what to do. Instinct holds though, and Loki is halfway down the hall before he thinks to be offended. Their destination is another bedroom, Tony's, apparently. The floor, the table, even the chairs, all bristle with spiked bits of Midgardian machines, unfitting for a child's bedroom. But Tony seems happy with it. He moves a half-finished machine from the floor to the bed (sheeted with blue stars and crimson stripes, a man with a shield Loki remembers all too well, pictured on the coverlet), and plops the car down where it was.

"This was easy," he says. "You just punch out the pieces, and there's this glue that sticks them together. I'm making a circuit board next. Daddy's gonna really want to see that!" The hopeful tone, when his "Daddy" so clearly won't: No, Tony is not just another Thor, he thinks.

The boy presses a button. The car hums into motion. It shoots across the floor almost at random, and drives right across Loki's bare foot.

Uncontrollable giggles come from Tony and, with them, a burning anger in Loki's chest. If he grabbed this little mortal boy, think how far he could throw him.

Tony sobers quickly though. "I'm sorry," he says. "I didn't mean to laugh. Did you get a boo-boo? Momma says it's not nice to laugh when people get boo-boos. – You want a band-aid?"

A moment later they're down the hall again, in the "bathroom" this time. Tony has a tiny strip of stretchy material unwrapped. He sticks it carefully to the scraped place on Loki's foot. Once, long long ago, there was another little boy who used to bandage his injuries, Loki thinks: A golden-haired boy and, like this one, he was usually the one responsible for the injuries he bandaged. There's a warmth in Loki's chest, a smile softening the tension of his face. Without thinking, he brings out his hand to ruffle this boy's spiky brown hair ...Only to be brought up short when he remembers that he's as small as Tony is.

"There." They're eye-to-eye again, and , just like Thor always did, Tony's got his chin thrust out, a taking-care-of-business look on his face. "You're okay now, Loki. No more boo-boo. Let's go play with my car!"

Dreamily, Loki nods. Why not go play with his car? And later on they can have... – Well in Asgard, it was always cakes and fresh milk. They'll have whatever the Midgardian equivalent of cakes and fresh milk is here, probably. And then it'll be time for Tony to go to bed. A picture comes into his mind of both of them, snugged close together under the Captain America covers. Of course that's not how it's going to be, is it? He'll go back to his cell, to the narrow cot there, and the ever-present sense of his failure.

...But could he stay here? What would happen if he tried?


	3. Loki Exerts Control

The woman who feeds them their small cakes (called "Oreos") and milk, is not Tony's mother. She's smaller, younger, with brown skin and black hair, parted in the middle. Tony calls her Nina. She's not much more interested in her little charge than his parents seem to be, but she stays with them while they eat. Perhaps she's being paid to do it.

"Okay, Tony." When they've both finished eating. "Bedtime." Nina puts the magazine with the pretty boy-faces on the cover aside. "Your friend's gotta go home now."

"We're having a sleepover." He picks the words that will convince from her mind, from Tony's. "Momma and Daddy are at the party downstairs. They said I could stay."

"They did?" The wide-eyed surprise on Tony's face is inot/i the most convincing of expressions. He is very small, and not the liar his new "friend" is.

Nina's lack of interest serves in good stead though. "Oh yeah? What's your name, baby?"

"I'm Loki." He gives the wide-eyed look of innocence that served so well with Thor, when he wanted the bigger cake, or the place closer to their mother at storytime.

And it works, of course. "Where's your pajamas, Loki?"

"I didn't bring pajamas." Lost look, a little sniffle. "I can borrow from Tony, can't I? Momma said it would be okay."

"Okay."

Brief moments, and he is tucked in next to Tony. Their teeth have been brushed (with strange, mint-flavored toothpaste), and they both wear Captain America patterned pajamas. Smug feelings, as he lingers in the realm halfway to sleep: It has been too long since he's manipulated others to gain an end. How pleasant to find that the skill remains.

When he is shaken awake the next morning, Loki thinks himself back in the cell. He has no idea why someone would be shaking him. Surely Thor is not visiting so early? He opens his eyes to the small boy with spiky hair from the night before, and his words make no sense.

"C'mon and watch TV with me, Loki!"

"TV" is a box that projects pictures. Loki has done such things with spells. Here on Midgard, it is a machine, no doubt. Tony watches, sitting on a sofa, with a stuffed toy bear and a small blanket patterned with the ubiquitous Captain America. He gobbles a bowl of bright-colored balls that he calls "Trix."

"Trix" are not pleasant. Loki drinks the milk and sets the bowl aside. As for the "TV", it is strange. The pictures on it are not well-drawn. Loki stares, trying to make sense of the crude picture of the bearded man, and the brown, clumsily drawn dogs. He wonders, when Tony giggles. What is the joke? Then the boy puts his arm around him and points at the screen. "Which one do you like best?"

Which one? Of the pictures?

"Scooby? You like Scooby or Scrappy better?" The boy must notice his hesitation, because he stares. "You never watched Scooby-Doo before, Loki?"

Again, his mind gives the correct words: "Momma says it rots the brain."

Tony nods. "Me too." A wicked grin. "But Momma's asleep."

They watch. There are ghosts that are nothing like the lost souls he has seen in Hela's realm, monsters that bear no resemblance to the Trolls, Ogres – _Frost Giants!_ – he has battled. Midgard is truly a realm apart, unaware of the realities outside its borders. The character called Velma solves the mystery (which is not very mysterious). The ones called Shag and Scooby eat things called "Scooby Snacks", that look much more delicious than "Trix". Afterward, a program starts called "Jeannie", which makes less sense than the other one.

Tony takes it all in greedily. He giggles at all the right places, and expresses great desire for the "Happy Meals" being sold by a man in red wig and white make-up. When the next "show" ends, he gets up for more Trix, and returns with a package of square cakes for Loki.

"You don't like Trix? Everybody likes Trix! Here: I brought Pop Tarts for you."

"Pop Tarts" have a strange, not-fruit taste, under a thick layer of brittle white sugar. They are at least, not as bad as the Trix.

After a while, Tony's mother enters, and the "TV" is turned off.

Momma Stark has more questions for Loki than Nina did. "Your parents were at the party last night, dear?"

A nod.

"What were their names?"

He searches his brain. Odin and Frigga are not the right answers here, nor yet Laufey and ...and whatever name the foul queen of the Frost Giants bears.

"Well, it was a big party." As so often, there is no need to lie, as the questioner, given sufficient time, will create the lie for you. "A lot of Howard's business contacts. I didn't know everyone there. – Ah, how do you know Loki, Tony?"

His little friend's brown eyes go blank again. A child's brain is not up to all these questions. "From the park," Loki interrupts before Tony can speak. "Nina takes him there."

"And when are your parents coming for you, dear?"

_Whenever I want them to, woman. And whatever parents I want._ "Soon."

Loki searches the minds of mother and son. He takes what he wants, and then: A doorbell, heard from downstairs.

"Mrs. Stark?" The voice of the one Tony calls "the housekeeper." "Loki's parents are here."

"Have you _gotta_ go home?" Sad puppy-eyes from Tony.

A nod. "Yeah."

"But I wanna show you my circuit board. I wanna play with the car some more. I wanna watch... Momma, you gotta let Loki stay and watch Fat Albert and have lunch with me!"

Momma laughs. "No more TV." She ruffles her son's hair with a fond gesture that pleases Loki. It is good to see the parents pay attention to him for a change. "Let's get Loki downstairs. His Mommy and Daddy want to take him home."

The parents he's conjured bear a strong family resemblance. – At the last possible moment, he changes out blue skin and red eyes for the green eyes and dark hair Momma Stark will expect. – "Mr. ...ah, _Laufeyson_" puts out his right hand. "Thank you for letting Loki stay last night. He's really taken with your son, you know."

"Mrs. Laufeyson" nods. "I hope he wasn't any trouble?"

"None at all," says Mrs. Stark just as if she'd been around to notice. "Your boy's a perfect darling."

Amusing. Loki, hasn't been anything perfect except a troublemaker, for a very long time. Outside at the front curb, waits a wood-paneled "station wagon", that serves to meet the Stark woman's expectations. Loki allows himself to be put in the back seat (with a kiss from Momma Laufeyson).

Sights he didn't bother noticing the last time when he was in Midgard, slide by outside the window: Lighted signs promise Burgers, Kings, Jacks in Boxes, and Tacos that are also Bells. Brilliant sunshine lights trees that look like sticks with brushes at the top, and car, after car, after car. The Laufey car turns, it turns again (Daddy Laufeyson the good driver that Loki has conjured him to be), but there is of course, noplace for Momma and Daddy Laufeyson to take their son. Can he be bothered creating them one, he wonders? Ah, but what is the point? Simpler to go back to Odin's cell, if he is to be alone with his imagination regardless.

All it takes is thinking of it, and the door appears in the back seat of the station wagon. He lifts the latch, sees his table, his bed, his barred door (without Thor's worried face, at least for the moment). Did he think it an empty place before? Now it is filled with thoughts: What is this place he can access through the door in his cell? And, now that he knows he can manipulate things there, how is he to use the knowledge?


	4. The Scientific Method

That boy behind the door: He calls himself Tony Stark. Loki has met a Tony Stark before. He was the one on Midgard with the metal piece in his chest, the one who's heart was immune to the sceptre's effects. Can this be he?

It cannot, surely. How many times has Thor told him since he's been in this cell, that he is still repairing damage caused when he was in Midgard? And the thought that All-Father would allow him free rein there again? Impossible! That this is a past Midgard, the Midgard of another time, means nothing. Loki is a danger, a threat, a _monster_. He "rampages" – Isn't that Odin's word? – wherever he is allowed to be free, like the mindless green beast who was Other Self to the scientist in Midgard.

And so then, what is this? Is it illusion merely? When he first saw the door, that was his thought. And he pictured Thor, Fandral, all of them that used to call themselves his friends, but were his brother's friends merely, all gathered around the fool who could be gulled so easily. Now that he has been in there, does he can he say he knows anything more about what it is?

Loki thinks of Little Tony, the sound of his voice, feel of his little hand in Loki's. – Of the _smell_ of him, sweet fruit-flavored cereal, and something else that proved to be the soap for his hair, when Nina bathed them together before bed. He remembers waking the boy ere he could wet the bed in the night (a trick he learned only after waking wet many and many mornings, when he used to sleep with Thor), and the warm heaviness of him cuddled close, as they both fell back to sleep again. So real, so palpable. Faugh, he can create such illusions without effort. And Odin's magic has always been better than his.

Ah, but more shame on All-Father if he thought he could fool him so easily. Loki has thought his way out of cleverer schemes than ever Odin has managed. He must test this if he would see what sort of world lies on the other side of the door. After that, whatever it is, he must turn it to his own advantage.

One tests the nature of something through experiment. The process is the same: Isolate and change one element at a time, then compare the results. It works no matter what one is testing. He can change things inside the world Odin has given him. He created the parents he needed for his deception. Did that small change in the Midgard inside his cell-door, have any effect on the Midgard of reality?

...Only how to find out with such a small change? Loki pictures Thor visiting the cell: "Good morning Loki," the Golden One says. And, "Oh Thor, Thor," he says in return, "can you find out if your Midgardian friend, the one with the drinking problem, ever met a Mr. and Mrs. Laufeyson?" And he says it, he'll be thought mad for sure.

No, he must change something else for this test. Something noticeable, something even the Thunderer, block-head that he is, won't miss. And he would make the test soon. He wishes to know the nature of this door Odin has given him. Is it gift, or distraction, or torment merely? How soon can he find out, he wonders and, must he wait until his brother visits Midgard again?

* * *

In the end, Loki finds a change so large that he will need no one to tell him of its effects.

He wakes. - How to know when he wakes? In this windowless cell, nothing separates one time from another, save the routine of food brought and dishes taken away. – He wakes when the morning's food still sits on his table, but after it has ceased to steam. Morning has passed ...probably. Afternoon has not yet come ...if he is correct in his estimation. He wakes, and what matter what time he wakes? It will be a different time behind the door regardless. It will be the time it is meant to be, whatever that means, in whatever kind of world lies there.

Curiosity thrums as he opens the door. Who's world is this? It surely cannot be reality? But if it should be... If this is indeed Midgard, the Midgard of another time... – Exactly how careless has Odin been with his pet "rampaging monster"?

Behind the door, the bright sunshine of Midgardian "California" shines on greensward and metal structures like torture devices. Tony skips and hops, pulling a red-painted contraption from which stuffed toys fall to be picked up by his servant-girl Nina.

"Loki?" He turns, his eyes brightening as he sees him. "Your Mommy and Daddy say you could play with me?"

A child's nod. "My Daddy said it was okay." _I just don't know yet if you're a playmate, or a toy he has given me._

"I brought my animals." Tony gestures toward the wagon. "What do you want to play, Loki?"

What to answer? He knows not the games these mortals play. Catching Bilgesnapes, which was always Thor's favorite game, is obviously not the correct answer. Nor yet, Being King of Asgard, which was always his. It is time perhaps, for a distraction; he needs to bring his test subject here anyhow.

An incantation under his breath, and only when Tony looks away for a moment. Little Loki Laufeyson of... – A quick search through the boy's mind. – Of _Santa Monica_ knows naught of such things.

"Hey!" Suddenly, Tony's eyes widen. "Did ya see that, Loki? Did you see him appear in back of you?"

_No, silly child, because Loki does not have eyes in the back of his head._ Feigned surprise: "In back of me?"

"Look!" Little hand on his arm, and Loki turns: Only when he sees the skinny boy with the bruise on his cheek, does he realize he was half expecting the Hulk.

"You're not supposed to be here," is Tony's comment. "Who're you?"

"I'm Bruce." A nervous look. "Where am I? How did I get here? Daddy's gonna be mad."

"You can't find your daddy?" Protector-gesture: Tony hugs the boy tight. "Where'd he go?"

"I dunno." A shrug, more nervous glances. "We were inside." Little Bruce's voice rises. "He said to stay right there."

"It's okay." Another hug. "Nina will find him." He waves a vague gesture in the girl's direction. "Nina's smart." A quick look over toward the "jungle gym"; apparently, he feels he has now solved all Bruce's problems. "Wanna play 'til he gets back?"

"I dunno..." Is Bruce's "Daddy" the one responsible for the bruise on his cheek? Is he the one who clothed him in the stained shirt and the pants with the hole in the knee? It is better surely, if this "Daddy" does _not_ find him. Bruce needs a better home... – Ha, a Frost Giant could give better care to the boy than this "Daddy" of his.

"Come on, let's play." Chiming in with his "friend" Tony. – He brings a stuffed bear from the wagon, as added persuasion. "You can be ...ah, you can be super-heroes, and I'll be the monster who's trying to destroy the city."

"S-super-heroes?" Bruce's brown eyes are big enough to drown in. Poor scared, fragile child! _Is_ he a real child? That thin little face, too-pale, in the California sunshine, those skinny arms with the bruises, high up as if someone has grabbed him: Are they real, or merely part of Odin's deception?

No matter. Loki tells himself that he will conjure new parents for Bruce regardless. Whoever little Bruce is, whether he be mere trickery from the All-Father's hands, or truly the seed from which the Hulk was to spring, he will go home to a good home tonight, and to parents who care about him. He will be dressed decently, like Tony is dressed, and fed well, on Midgardian Oreos and Trix. Anger will never build inside him and twist him into the monster who smashes innocent demigods into the ground. ...Or at least if he is mere simulation, the next time Loki visits, he will have two playmates instead of one. "Yeah," he says. "Super-heroes. You can be Iron Man."

Bruce's confused look. "Who... Who's that?"

"It's okay." Tony pats his shoulder. "Loki doesn't know anything. His Mommy doesn't let him watch TV. You can be..." A moment's thought. "You can be Captain America!"

Bruce shakes his head. "No, he's boring. I wanna be Spiderman!"

"No," from Tony. "I'm Spiderman!"

And with the little proto-Hulk fitting in at last, Loki relaxes. "You can _both_ be Man-Spider ...ah, _Spiderman_, I mean. And I'll be the bad guy."

"Doctor Octopus?" Bruce grins.

"Green Goblin!" says Tony.

"No, I'm _Loki_. And I'm extra-bad. And I take peoples' souls and make them my slaves. These are..." - He grabs the handle of the wagon filled with toys. – "These are all my slaves, and you Spidermen can't take them away from me." As he runs toward the "jungle gym", the stuffed toys that are his "slaves" tumble into the sand, escaping his hold ….rather like so many of them managed to do during the invasion.


	5. The Butterfly Effect

**Chapter edited because I saw it was not going where it needed to.**

Tony and his friends have the full afternoon for their playtime, and when they return to the home on the hillside (Mama Stark driving, dropping Nina off to go to her own home on the way), there is hot, reddish soup for them all, and fried sandwiches filled with a gluey substance that Tony calls "cheese".

"It's so nice you could come over and play with Tony again." The scented hug Mama Stark gives him is perfunctory. "And when are your parents picking you up?"

Bruce gets a hug as well. "And your parents... – I don't think we've met. Where do you live, dear?"

"Los Alamos." The surprised look that suddenly fills Mama Stark's face, is unexpected. Is that not the name of a city close-by? The one called "L.A.," that Nina talks about?

Tweezed eyebrows raise, painted lips make a perfect "O". "Did you say..."

"Los _Angeles_," interrupts Loki. "He said Los Angeles. I'm staying with Bruce tonight, and his Mommy is picking us up." Because the last thing he can think of in conjunction with the boy is a _Daddy_, after seeing how the current one treats him.

...He'll make him a Daddy, he thinks. Just not now. It is rather difficult envisioning what a good Daddy should be like.

"You certainly do have a lot of sleepovers." Mama Stark ruffles his dark hair. A glance at his plate: "And you don't like tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches much, do you? Can I get you something else, Loki dear?"

"Pop Tarts, Momma." The interjection from Tony. "He likes Pop Tarts."

Pop Tarts. The sugary tiles he ate for breakfast the last time. In truth, if he keeps getting served these things, he may actually develop a taste for them. Bruce and Tony certainly eat theirs with enthusiasm. ...Of course that is also how they eat the red soup and the gluey "cheese" sandwiches. Midgardians' tastes are different.

...Which begs the follow-up question: Would a simulated Midgard have food of such peculiarity? Surely Odin does not have the encyclopedic knowledge of Trix and Pop Tarts and such, to pull it off? Suddenly Loki wants to get back out of this realm as soon as he can, to find out the results of his experiment.

And so he makes the doorbell to sound. And behind the door, a woman with fluffy, Midgardian hair and a dress rather like Mrs. Stark's, but with Frigga's gentle, kind face. "Let me get that, boys," says Momma Stark.

And, "It's probably Bruce's Mommy," says little Loki helpfully.

* * *

An hour, maybe slightly less, is what it takes to settle little Bruce properly. His Mommy needs a car: He makes a wood-sided behemoth, like the one "The Laufeysons" drove on his last visit. She needs a house: Another hill now juts into the Pacific Ocean, so Bruce can have one just like Tony's. ...She needs a husband... Well, Bruce needs a Daddy... Well conventional wisdom would deem that he needs a Daddy but, not being convinced, Loki conjures the new Mommy a well-filled "bank account" instead, so that she may stay home and take care of her son.

He makes sure the sheets on the boy's bed do not have Captain America on them. Or any of the other Avengers. - There could be Loki-sheets. If you think about it, there ought to be. Why shouldn't there be Loki-sheets? – For the rest of the room however, scientific equipment. Chemistry, botany, engineering (that is the Midgardian name for making "tech", as Tony does). He gives the boy tools for every type of science known on Midgard, everything except for "nuclear physics" which was, he understands, how he came to develop the Hulk.

And then he leaves. Job well done, and who says that the God of Chaos cannot create as well as destroying? Loki conjures a door at the back of Bruce's brand-new closet, in his brand-new house, with his brand-new Mommy (and Daddy still under construction). It will serve as a useful path back again, the next time he visits Odin's simulation.

He lifts the latch. Outside is darkness. Has he really been in here so long? Thor will have been by for his daily stare-at-Loki visit. No doubt he'll have reported back to All-Father that he's enjoying his children's play-toy... Loki steps through the door.

And he is enveloped in cold. Not the chill, stuffy dampness of night inside an Aesir prison-cell, but bitter wind, and above his head, stars like ice-crystals in the night sky. Instead of the silence he was expecting, noise: That honking, it is the sound of a Midgardian car-horn. The rush of wheels is more cars, many, many more, and he hears the shouts of mortals calling to each other. Instead of loneliness, there is crowding. People rush by on all sides of him. ...And he is, Loki realizes, clad in his battle armor.

The dream of being out in public dressed to invade, but with no army and no Tesseract-fueled sceptre to aid him, is one Loki has had many times. How that would have been worse than reality, where he had army and sceptre, and they both proved useless, is a good question. But when he finds himself in this cold, hostile Midgardian environment, and dressed thus, it is his first thought, that this must be a dream. Even though he was fully awake when he left little Bruce's new house. Even though he has not been to bed. His next thought: _I must get out of sight._

By the hounds of Bor, where did that come from? Where is he, for that matter? In what time, and in what situation?

The battle armor begins to draw attention. "What's he wearing?" The lady with the short dark hair looks at the one with the short white hair. "A cosplayer," someone else says. "He's definitely a cosplayer." "But why?" "Why now?" "Kind of tacky to dress like _him_ right after what he did." And, "how did he get his costume so good?"

"Love the helmet!" Inked patterns cover the visible skin of the mortal approaching him. Perhaps he is some kind of warrior. "Was it Ebay? Do they have more?"

His companions, similarly inked, converge. "You didn't get the last one, did you?" asks a short girl, who looks as wide as she is tall.

Loki would change. He must change, he dare not attract notice ere he understands the situation. But how to do it, when he is watched by so many? Where can he go? He has no idea. And all the less, how to keep these painted warrior-children from following.

One of the buildings around him... The children's minds are crowded with wanting, but below that he finds the information he needs: These edifices are "bars". Some of them are "restaurants". Inside he can find a "bathroom", where there will be privacy.

"Yes," he says. "Ebay has many." A quick scan, to his left, to his right, then in back of him in case he has missed something. "They say they will make more. – A veritable shrine to the Conqueror Loki."

"The what?"

"He's in-character."

"It's called _Method Acting._"

While they converse, he is gone, and into the first lit entrance he sees. Inside, lights pierce, music shatters the eardrums, and he is surrounded by enormous women, clad in tight black or flowing gowns (and some, in a combination of the two). He enters ...and at once there are more comments.

"Oh my god, cool costume." "Poor taste. I had a friend who was killed." From one, brighter than the rest, "You don't suppose it's really him?" Another's response: "No, he's in New York."

The voices are male. These are men disguised. Dared he use his magic, Loki could show these novices how a real man impersonates a woman (By becoming one, of course). But for now he needs the safety of the "bathroom".

...Which is full of the same. And many, many men kissing. Loki pushes past them, dives for a "bathroom stall". Even here, comments reach him: "The helmet, does it mean you're horny?" "I could be horny for you, babe." "I didn't hear it was going to be Norse Night. – I have a Valkyrie costume at home."

The "stall" is a noisome, tiny enclosure, that protects him only from being seen, and does nothing to block the sounds of what is going on outside it. Loki sits. – The purpose of the porcelain seat with the water in it is obvious, but what can he do? While he stands, his helmet is visible over the walls.

Willfully, he blocks stimuli from his mind: Begone the sights, the sounds, – The _smells_! – of his present location. What matters, is to understand why he is here:

Midgard, this is surely Midgard. And he has heard enough to know that these people know of the invasion. That he does not reign in glory someplace far from here, tells him that he's failed. – _He's_ failed, and logic tells him that it is the invasion that has failed also, else Thanos would surely be harvesting these mortals' souls for Lady Death by now. Vaguely, he feels a little glad at this. He would have been a benevolent ruler. The Titan-God? Far from it!

And so by logical conclusion, the Avengers have won. The sarcastic one with the drink in his hand, who was once his little friend Tony, has prevailed. Doubtless, he is even now celebrating with the spy-woman, with Thor and the archer, who was so useful, but for such a brief period.

And Loki? He is on the run. He has escaped subjugation by the Hulk, but he has not escaped defeat. He is hiding ...from whom?

...From Thanos of course, obviously. He who promised horrible revenge should Loki fail, is hardly likely to let him escape now, unharmed. ...From the Avengers, just as obviously, They have stopped his invasion, but that surely will not stop their thirst for vengeance against the would-be conqueror. And... – His stomach plummets as he realizes the last one. – And from Thor as well. From Thor, ever-obedient lieutenant to Odin, who very surely stands ready to shut him away in the same prison cell that was his fate in the other reality.

And so he has come full-circle. He was a failure before, he is a failure now, with but one difference: Now he is a fugitive, searched for by many, and implacable foes. He has no idea where he is, and he has no clue how to get to someplace where he will find safety. Odin will not give it to him, that much is sure. And Thor? Equally unlikely. He is always his father's obedient lackey. The Avengers... If he can get to them, perhaps there is still a chance. In this world, at least no mindless beast to smash him into oblivion. And he manages it right, perhaps he can use the others as hostages, and negotiate his own freedom?

Outside the stall, voices are loud. Fists pound the door. "Baby, come out! Daddy wants to play!" "Hey, we can sing karaoke together." "Dude, some of us have to _go_!" Loki wills his escape. The spell for transporting himself from one place to another is a simple one: He must know where he wants to go, and he must visualize going there. He knows where he wants to go. So soon after the battle (and it must be soon after the battle, else why does he still wear his battle-garb?), he will find his foes still in Manhattan, probably in the penthouse of Stark's "Tower", where they will be celebrating victory over the "war-criminal" Loki.

...Unless they are out hunting for him instead?


	6. Unintended Consequences

A shimmer, and the walls of the bathroom stall fade. The smell disappears and, with it, the sounds. Loki stands in a place he has stood before, in the main room of Stark's penthouse, close-by the window, now boarded up where he broke it. The room is empty. In spite of himself, Loki feels a stab of fear. The magic he used to get here: It is a flaming signal, that will draw his foes to him. Who will be first, he wonders? Will it be Odin with his threats of punishment, or Thanos, who threatens worse?

The place _cannot_ be empty, he tells himself. Surely he was right, and the Avengers have returned here? There are doors; they must logically, lead to other rooms. Perhaps since it is night, his foes are all abed?

Loki crosses to one door at random. He shoves it open, reveals a "bathroom stall", different only in size and luxury, from the one at the bar. Another door, metal, leads to one of the close-walled enclosures the mortals call "elevators". There are but two more to try. Looking at them, Loki ponders which to try first. It is as he is thinking, that he hears low voices. He enters the room from which they are coming.

"You're really giving _me_ Oxy-Contin?" Stark's voice. It comes from a large bed, under a mirrored ceiling.

"Yeah, and I've already booked the rehab, so you'd better not get any ideas." Responding, it is a woman's voice, coming from a tall chair close to the bed. For a moment, Loki wonders if he will see Mama Stark again. He moves closer.

"I hear you can really fly on this stuff."

He must not have been looking where he was going, because Loki's foot hits something on the floor. On the bed, Stark looks up. The woman in the chair stands and turns his way.

"Who are you? How did you get in?"

"What, him? This is the super-villain we're all looking for." Sarcastic to the end, this Mr. Stark, despite whatever injuries he's received that confine him to the bed. "Pepper, meet Reindeer Games. Raindeer Games, this is Pepper."

"That's Ms. Potts." The woman is tall, red-headed, good-looking. Had he thought about the kind of woman he'd like his friend Tony to end up with, Loki would have chosen such as she, her no-nonsense attitude a proper balance for his enthusiasm. Unfortunate that they should meet under such circumstances. Pepper Potts' eyes are steely. "JARVIS," she says, "there's an intruder."

"Intruder sighted, Ms. Potts." The voice is from everywhere and nowhere. Were this Asgard, Loki would suspect magic. Here, it is probably more of Stark's "tech". "Shall I alert the proper authorities?"

"Tell her to do no such thing, lest I destroy your metal speaking-machine." This is not how he meant the encounter to go. They all should have been here. Loki should have taken them hostage by now. ...Somehow.

"Yeah." Tony seems unmoved. "Like you destroyed the suit. Listen, Reindeer Games, what are you doing here, anyway?" Wincing, he pushes himself up a little in bed. "Usually when someone's on the run, they you know, _run_."

There remains but one card to play. Loki swallows. It comes ill to do this. – He knows not even if it will work. There is no proof this is the same Tony he was once friends with. – But do it he must. "Stark, do you know who I am?"

An expression of incomprehension: _Of course he knows_, is writ large across Stark's face.

"No." Loki forestalls his response. "Do you _really_ know? Do you remember playing with a boy named Loki when you were a child?"

The one called Pepper looks at Tony on the bed. He shrugs, grins. "People called their kids all kinds of things back then. What can I say, it was the 70's. My first crush in Kindergarten was called Moonshadow."

"I am he." Loki speaks urgently, desperate to convince ere the "proper authorities" are notified. "I am the boy you remember. I visited through a portal and, when I returned, things were different."

Incomprehension, now, on both their faces. Loki speaks quickly. "I sought to remove the green beast, the one who defeated me when I was here before. – Do you know Bruce Banner, Tony?"

"Banner?" It is an echo of his own words, not a response.

"The scientist," Loki says. "The one who's alter-ego was called Hulk."

Pepper shakes her head. She looks toward Tony. "_How soon_ did you say Thor would be here?"

But he has at last, caught Tony's attention. "I've heard of Brian Banner. Physicist: He and my dad did some work in the 60's. I don't know what happened to him, I think he's dead."

"Perhaps his son?" And there: Now he's got Pepper's attention too. "JARVIS," she says, "look up Brian Banner."

"Brian Banner." The mechanical voice sounds in response. "Born 1934, in Peoria Illinois. Died in 1982, at Patton State Hospital, in San Bernardino, California. Married Rebecca Walters in 1969. One child: Bruce Banner, born March 13, 1969, died October 27, 1974."

Died? Bruce is dead? "That's got to be a different Bruce Banner," Loki says aloud.


	7. Schroedinger's Cat

"Interesting." Tony's woman is cool. "It's like you're from another dimension."

"He is from another dimension." Tony, for his part, is enthusiastic, with the eagerness he showed as a child, when trying a new puzzle. - "It's like Schroedinger's Cat: His dimension was our dimension, only he went in and changed something. Now there's two alternate timelines, this one, and one, where apparently this 'Bruce' grew up into a big green monster and stomped him flat." He chuckles. "I kind of wish I could see that one."

"But why do you care?"

The question is unexpectedly difficult. Why _does_ he care, Loki wonders? He was defeated, Hulk or no Hulk. Soon Thor will arrive, alerted to his presence by the spell that brought him here. He will be in Odin's prison-cell, regardless.

"It should not have worked out that way." For once, the Silvertongue fumbles for words. "I saved the child from a life of brutality..."

"It looks like you saved him from _life_."

Loki throws a bitter look Tony's way. If he were not his old childhood friend, he'd be through the window by now. And if...

"How is it that you are injured, Stark? In my timeline you were there to capture me."

A skeptical look from his erstwhile friend. "And you care _why_? – Okay, okay." Tony waves his hands. "Because once upon a time I was widdle Tony, and you were widdle Loki, and unlike widdle Bruce, _who died_, I survived so you could kick my ass when you came to take over my planet."

"Short answer: Tony went back to catch you after the portal shut down. You threw him off the building, and with his suit damaged already, he broke his back." The woman gives an impatient snort. "I still find it hard to believe you don't know all this already. _And_ that you care. You've pretty much been a one-man killing machine since you came to Earth."

"So what now, Reindeer Games?"

It is a difficult question. What now indeed? He would return and save the boy, but _can_ he? If he was never taken prisoner, then he has never been in Odin's cell, and there is no portal that will connect him with ...whatever it was it connected him with. ...With the past, or with an _alternate universe_, in Tony's interpretation.

As it happens, he has little time to ponder. His expectations prove correct, and but minutes pass, ere lightning crackles, heralding arrival of Odin's minion. This time at least, he does not seize Loki and fly immediately homeward.

Loki throws a look of challenge. "More dark energy expended in my pursuit, Thor?"

In return, a look of confusion: "The Tesseract." Thor is halting as always. "You of all people are aware of its power, brother."

And here is another way he has failed: In this universe as in the other one, Odin controls the cube. Loki nods acknowledgment.

"But I do not understand." Thor looks toward the bed. "Friend Tony, how is it that you are here, and my brother..."

_And my brother attacks not._ The words tremble in the air, unsaid.

"Oh that's right, you haven't heard: This is the new-and-improved Loki."

"He says he's from an alternate universe," Pepper says. "He came... I'm not exactly sure why he came."

He _came_, Loki thinks, because he did not believe it was reality through the door. Up until the end, he thought it merely a trick of the All-Father's. ...He came because removing the creature who defeated him _should_ have left him undefeated. He should by rights be King by now, and these mortals groveling in front of him (and unhurt! By all the gods, Tony should not have been hurt!). He stays... But here his mind stops: Why does he stay here? He could still fight Thor and gain victory.

"Father put a door in my cell," Loki begins, and it is not until after he has finished telling the story, that he realizes the false title he has given Odin.

* * *

"You want to save the boy!" Simple world of the Thunderer, where everything is black and white, and Tricksters are simply brothers who have been misunderstood.

"I did save the boy. I do not know what happened to him afterward, that caused his death."

"It is a simple matter." –

"It is not! Odin will be happy to have me confined again. He will care only that I am not causing him embarrassment with my deeds in other realms. He will be too busy..." Loki falters.

Acknowldeging nod from Thor. "Father is busy indeed."

Why does it hurt to hear him say what he already knew to be truth? He was never more than a pawn in Odin's power struggles, a treasure to be kept, then used later to gain peace with Jotunheimr. He was never son. Certainly he was never _heir_, for who would accept a monster on the throne of Asgard? Why does his heart ache to hear it? Why does he bow his head? He should be fighting now. He could defeat the Thunderer if he tried.

Stiff-tongued: "He will leave me to rot as he did before. Maybe, – Perhaps and only perhaps, you mindless lackey! – he will remember my presence eventually, but only after I have worn myself out in my pain and misery. Then after that the second perhaps: This time he may choose not to help. The child will be dead all the time I am waiting."

– "Well the kid's dead regardless." Tony's voice an interruption. "That's how it works in alternate universes." –

"You care about him." Blind foolishness. Why must the Thunderer always think the best? Why does he persist in attributing his own good, simple heart to others? "You want to repair the damage you have done."

"It was not damage. I saved the boy. I gave him a home, a family ...wealth."

"And then you left." Damn Tony's woman! Let her foul tongue be cursed! "You left him there still with the same name, so his dad would be sure to find him. – Did you at least let his mother know that his father might be coming?"

He did not. One doesn't take such care with simulations.

"And I'll bet if we search the news records, we'll find the story about how his father murdered him." Curse Tony too. How has he changed so, from the innocent, trusting boy he used to be? "You want JARVIS to run a search?"

"We will return to Asgard," Thor says. "Father will honor your good impulses... I am sure."

Proof of the hopelessness of his chance: Even Odin's favorite sounds doubtful.

And a final word from the woman, as they prepare for departure: "He might be more likely to do it if... Listen, Thor, can that Tesseract take back more than just you and your brother?"


	8. Before Odin Once Again

The power of the Tesseract, which can open portals beyond the Nine Realms and allow entrance to entire armies, is of course not taxed to carry four people and one chair with wheels...

"The chair..." It is of ugly grey metal, clumsier, more awkward-looking than any "tech" he has seen Tony with before. "Explain it."

"Well I've been meaning to customize it." As always, there is a story. "Actually, I've been thinking of some ways I can incorporate the prosthetic purpose into the Suit. – I was going great guns on the prototype, only Pepper took my laptop away."

An impatient huff of breath from the woman; her touch as she lifts Tony into the godforsaken chair is gentle though, so Loki forgives her. "Because you were supposed to rest." She looks up at Loki with the usual cold stare. "It's temporary. The doctors say he'll make a full recovery._If_..." A glance down at Tony in the chair. "If he's serious about his physical therapy." –

Interjection from Tony: "Babe, you know what kind of 'physical therapy' I'll get serious about." –

Pepper's stare does not change. "I hope I don't need to remind you why he's in this thing, Loki."

She does not... - Ere he can speak for himself, the Thunderer of course, must add his own misconstructions. "My brother would make amends for this also. He meant no harm. He just didn't think..."

_No Thor, it is you who do not think. ...Ever._ "I knew you not when I did this," Loki says. "You were a foe to be bested."

Further conversation is cut off, as the Tesseract's power lifts and carries them to Asgard. Loki stands too close to his brother, too close to his onetime friend, and the terrible machine he has put him in. Almost, he would shudder. But the God of Chaos does not shudder. He deals in harm, and destruction is his currency. Loki wills calmness.

All too soon, the throne room in Asgard. Odin sits where he always sits. He sketches a nod of approval, as Thor and Loki materialize. Then his eyes widen, as the other visitors appear too. Almost, it is worth this entire rigmarole, to see All-Father surprised for once.

"Why bring you these visitors, son?" Odin speaks of course, to Thor. His _son_.

Thor's response is halting. "All-Father, there has been a complication." Ah, the advantages of son-ship, which brings only the chance to grovel at Odin's feet. "This Loki," he says, "he is from another world."

Stern look: "Explain, Thor."

And the explanation. Botched. Of course. Because it is Thor giving it: "In his own world, my brother tells us, he was in your prison here already. He had been subdued by a green beast, who was once a great worker of Midgardian science, and thus were my comrades and I able to capture him. He says that while you had him imprisoned you gifted him with a door, a portal that led into the past." -

"Your story makes no sense." Another advantage of son-ship: To be interrupted, when one tries only to speak. Ah truly, how _blessed_ Thor is, to be heir to such!

The tyrant turns his gaze to Loki. "I would hear your explanation. Your brother's confuses only."

"He is no brother to me," - The words of bravado come easily; he has used them many and many a time by now. - "as you are no father. Thor's words make no sense because he cannot make sense. Because he is a senseless lout, fit only for fighting and brutality. Nonetheless, he is mostly correct: You gave me a door. Once inside, I tried to alter reality so that I would emerge victorious. I failed and, in failing, I managed to harm two innocent people." He gestures at Tony. "This one is crippled because of me, his back shattered, so he must ride in this wheeled chair. The other is a boy..." He swallows, falters. By all the gods, why this emotion now, when he faces down his worst foe?

"You heard right." Tony's voice comes from behind him. "Reindeer Games says he wants to help someone. I didn't believe it myself, at first."

"I would save the boy only." For once, Loki Liesmith speaks near-truth. His objective inside the portal is merely to rescue Bruce ...and do one other thing.

A nod from Odin, who would appear reasonable for whatever purposes of his own. And what do you need from me to accomplish it?"

"One thing: I need a door. The rest, I will do by myself."


	9. Temporal Anomaly

Thor kneels when Odin grants the request. "All-Father is merciful." Faugh, this "mercy" of his, it consists of what? Loki for his part, shows his contempt by standing. Beside him, standing also, the woman, and Tony, who can neither kneel nor stand. Uncomfortable, the twist in his stomach when he thinks about that. Is this why Odin gave him the door in the first place? That he might be shamed by causing harm to a friend?

"Your fate is in your hands Loki," the old man says. "As it has always been."

Lies, those are lies. His fate has always been in the hands of others. Did he ask to be rejected by his true father? – To be taken as a hostage to fortune, his true heritage kept from him because it was too terrible to disclose? Even the alliance with the Titan-God was not his choice, for what choice does one have under threat of death?

Loki casts an eye toward his erstwhile "father". "Are you not afraid of what I may do?"

A bleak look of pretended sadness. "What I fear and what happens, son, they have been the same too many times already. One cannot base one's decisions upon that only."

"I think that's fancy double-talk for 'I'm sorry'." Tony puts a hand on his arm.

Loki shakes it off. "Mere moralizing. The old man grows sententious in his dotage." He watches: There is no fanfare when the door appears. Like any properly-conjured marvel, it appears perfectly ordinary. One difference only from the last time; here in the throne room it is golden, and magnificent in keeping with its surroundings.

Once again, Loki touches the latch; once again the door swings wide to show California's bright sunshine. So shortly before, it was the only sunlight in his life. How much has changed, and in such short a time!

"I'm coming too." From behind, he hears the voice.

Rejection is automatic. "That I do, I can do alone."

"No, sorry." Ere the door closes again, Tony and his woman have come through as well. "You seriously think I'm leaving you alone with my past self, you're crazier than I took you for, Reindeer Games."

Loki nods. "The woman though, she returns."

"Sorry." Pepper's smile is cool. "Door's gone already..." Her voice breaks off. "Ah, ...Loki?"

In his new, diminutive size, he looks up at both of them. "Did I not tell you I came here in a child's form?"

"Here", is the park where Nina takes the boy-Tony. If Odin has done this correctly, they have arrived previous to his first visit.

"I remember this place." Pleasure, in Tony's voice. "There's the jungle gym." He points. "And there's the sandbox that always smelled like cat crap." Pointing again: "There's the arcade: Nina took me once, and they had to put a milk crate so I could reach the games." He laughs. "It's nice seeing the old place again. I might actually have to say thank you, Reindeer Games."

A rattle of wheels announces the arrival of the boy-Tony, as before, preceded by Nina. "And there's Nina! I remember I found a _Playgirl_ in her backpack one time, and then Mom fired her." Tony's voice sobers. "That was right before I went to boarding school. I was too old to have a babysitter anyway."

"You'd better keep quiet." Pepper gestures, at the boy drawing near. "Do you want _him_ hearing any of that?"

"Might be fun causing a temporal anomaly..." Tony lowers his voice. "What's your plan, Loki?"

"We do not remain here." A gesture of his hand, and the scene dissolves. Sunlight still floods, but the air is cooler, the smell is pine trees and mountain wind, instead of the faint salt-smell of Santa Monica. Loki and his companions stand on a square of untended grass, facing an structure with chips in its textured walls.

"Bruce's house?"

A car pulls up next to the house, and a man gets out. He wears a white shirt with pens in the pocket, and carries a box marked Coors.

Tony's voice in an undertone: "And that's the 'bad Daddy' you were trying to save him from."

"You!" The man gestures with his free hand. "The fuck you doing on my lawn?" A shout as he comes up the walk toward the front door. "Rosemary, are these your friends? They better be going home right now."

The door opens and a woman appears, dark hair pulled back from her face, and the boy Bruce clinging to her skirt. "Friends?" A note of tension is in her voice: "You know I wouldn't have invited guests over without telling you, Brian."

"You'd better not." He shoves her aside to enter. Then, turning back, "Get the fuck off my lawn before I call the cops."

"Okay yeah, I get it." Tony's voice penetrates his thoughts: In his mind, Loki has already eviscerated the man. "The mom's okay though. Couldn't you have left him with her?"

"This time." They need not move further than the walk in front of this house. This will all be resolved soon enough. "After I kill the father."

The woman's cool voice: "We don't do things that way on Earth, sorry Loki. We'll find a phone and call the authorities."

"No wait, Pepper." Tony puts a hand on her arm. "You hear stories all the time about kids _not_ getting taken away... And then there's a tragedy. This is our chance to make it not happen. I say Loki takes the kid, and the mom. We leave Dad here by himself."

"I'm not going to lecture you about being a vigilante." A breath. "Okay, we take the boy." – As if this hinged upon her approval. – "What are you going to do with him, Loki?"

Obvious: "He lives with his mother in the house I give them, and with the new identity as you suggested. ...Perhaps I will also give a savage beast for protection in case the father tries to follow. A dragon..." –

"A dog." Pepper's interruption. –

"A dog then, but it will be a savage one." Loki lifts his hand.

A moment later, the house on the coast is reconstructed. Bruce lives there, with his mother now, and savage canines patrol the perimeter. Close-by as before, the house where Tony lives. "We may return now," he tells him. "I have restored you your friend."

"And the Hulk." The woman's voice has changed, something close to respect having entered.

"I will defeat you another way," - Another wave of his hand, and the door reappears. - "once I have determined the correct variable." He touches the door. "Shall we return?"

Behind the door, darkness. A cold wind blows in and, with it, the sound of cars passing. "This is not All-Father's cell."

He speaks aloud, for Tony's response is immediate. "You've changed time again."

Outside the door lies a street scene he has seen before. All too soon, Loki is surrounded by the painted warrior-children, and their comments ring loud in his ears. This time too, comments for his companions: "My god man, I love your costume." Enthusiastic, one reaches forward. "The LEDs, are they embedded in the shirt?"

Loki had incinerated one, ere he'd let him touch him, but Tony is tolerant. "Separate. There's a guy on Ebay that does 'em special."

"What's awesome, is the attention to detail." Bare a breath, awed-sounding, from a boy who's blue tunic bears a pony's features. "Iron Man's only been in that thing since last week." –

Sharp nudge from his compatriot: "Dude, it's real, can't you tell? That's probably why he chose the costume."

And the first one nods. "Yeah you're right. He doesn't look anything like Iron Man."

From behind Tony, Pepper's amused laugh.

"It's real." Tony speaks quickly. "I broke my back special; I'm just that dedicated. And my friends and I are very late for the convention..." –

"That guy on Ebay..." Ere they can make their escape, another interruption. "Does he do the suit too? How much for one of those?"

"Come on, you think he'd be wearing a t-shirt and pajamas, if he had the suit?"

The first speaker shakes a matted head. "Not when it's 40 degrees outside, yeah." He turns back to Tony. "He do Bruce costumes? I always thought I was more the nerdy science-guy type."


	10. The Box is Opened

**_New! Improved! Edited for added clarity!_**

Predictable, their first stop in the bedroom in Stark Tower. Predictable also, the reaction he receives there: "Oh no, it is the villain Loki! The war-criminal, the mass-murderer! – Oh Loki, Loki, do you know that e'en now at the behest of your father, your brother seeks your whereabouts?" Long moments go by, ere their mortal brains properly process what they're seeing.

"Tony... What?" Bed-Tony, to Tony in the wheelchair. "The fuck, you're me."

"That proves it..." – A moment's beat of reaction and Wheelchair-Tony manages the desired humorous response. – "I'm too good for there to be just one." He throws a grin up at the woman Pepper, then looks back to his doppelganger. And then the real reaction sets in.

"I'm gay?"

"Bi," from Tony in the bed. "...But in a relationship." He stares at Tony in the wheelchair. "I'm with Pepper?"

A sigh from the woman. "Sometimes I wonder why."

He glares. "You told _me_ you wouldn't have anything more to do with me after the birthday party when Rhodey took the suit..." –

"I told you the same thing." The man in the chair next to the bed speaks. He is barely recognizable as the same Bruce Loki remembers seeing on the helicarrier, albeit better groomed – And better-fed. – than Loki remembers him. His grin is the same though, awkward and nervous even without a Green Beast as his alternate-self. "I don't know what it is, Tony. People just forgive you stuff."

Both Tonys together: "It's my devilish charm."

Together too, from Pepper and Bruce, the snort in response.

Tony in the wheelchair looks past Bruce, at the two men by the fireplace (and testament to Loki''s state of mind as well, that he has scarce noticed there are others in the room). "Modell, right? Horizon Labs? The fuck, I've been trying to set up an appointment with you for a year, but you won't return my calls." Unspoken, the question: _What's this other Tony have that I don't?_

"That's because you're an asshole," says the stout man with the red hair. "Now Bruce on the other hand..." He grins. "Kidding, man."

"We've been meaning to come over since the accident," says his bearded companion, "only I had a case that was going to trial. – Don't know why it took so long for them to settle. They didn't have a chance in hell if it went to court." A beat. Then, "Is there a reason we're all standing around here chit-chatting with the guy that just tried to take over Manhattan?"

Tony-in-the-Wheelchair: "This isn't the dangerous one. He's from an alternate universe, and we just came back from the past where he was trying to fix some damage he did with a time-portal."

"Damage." Bruce waves a hand and chairs are procured.

"With a time-portal." Bed-Tony lifts a bottle from the bedside table. "Hey Max, go get a corkscrew and some glasses, will you? This should be interesting."

_Interesting_, it is not, rather, brief; Loki has recounted this tale before: "Yes, a portal. No, I did not think of the risks when I made the change. – A return, yes. And I begged All-Father most heartily to grant assistance. ...Or rather, it was not I but Thor who did it." Loki looks up. "In a moment, my brother will be here."

A nod from Tony-in-the-Wheelchair. "I'm surprised he's not here yet. He tracks you by the magic you do, right?"

Pepper as well: "And he's got orders from Odin to catch you."

Thunder breaks, and everyone looks toward the window. - "And _you_ wanted to stay home and watch _Mad Men_!" Modell's voice in an undertone. - A moment later, the glass bursts, and the Thunderer is on the scene.

"Brother!"

"See Thor, I attack not." It were well this part of the conversation were over quickly; the problem with these "alternate realities" is the sheer amount of repetition they entail. "Pray notice your friends,: Take note that they are still safe and unharmed."

"Brother, I had not expected to find you so quickly." Uninvited, Thor takes a seat, and a glass of the wine Modell has poured. "Had you not resorted to magic, you had remained free."

Oh yes, but we have been through this before, Thor. (at least, some of us have). Had he not resorted to magic, he had still been where he first appeared, in the dirty, noisy darkness of the city, and with the painted warrior-children oppressing him on all sides. "I am not of your world." – It feels, not the second, but the thousandth time he has told this. – "Rather, I am of another, a changed world that was created through the use of what Tony calls a 'time-portal'. He references a Midgardian mage, who put a cat in a box."

"Schroedinger." An interruption from Bruce. "So you opened the box."

The box? It is not just the Thunderer who stares.

"Because that's the thing with Schroedinger's cat," Bruce says, "is that there's two of them, one alive, and one dead. This is Alternate-Tony here. – Where's Alternate-Bruce?"

"He's dead." Flat answer from Tony-in-the-Wheelchair. "His father beat him to death."

"Greg Annenberg? – I know he's my step-father, but..." Bruce swallows. "Oh yeah. Mom told me some stuff about my real dad. ...Fuck!"

He must have picked up the language from Tony. Bruce-on-the-helicarrier was never profane.

"But listen:" The interruption comes from the one called Modell. "We've got two Tonys, right? And we know why we _don't_ have two Bruces. But where's the other Loki?"

"You're right, Max." Bruce, having recovered from the news of his alternate-self's death. "There should be two... – No, there should be three Lokis, shouldn't there?"

"Three Loki's?" Thor, of course, is confused.

"One from the first world, one from the second one, and another from ours." The explanation comes from Modell. "See the thing is, when you change the past, you create another whole altered timeline. Your timeline goes on the same as it was before, it's the new one that's different."

Tony-in-the-Wheelchair looks at him. "I can't believe I didn't catch that." He turns to Loki. "He's right, Reindeer Games: Where's your other self?"

"He is on the run somewhere." The words scarce pass Loki's lips, ere he catches himself. But if that were so, why did the door put him where it did?

"Yeah, in some downtown somewhere across from a gay bar. We went there with you, remember?" Tony's words, emphasizing what he's already realized: "You said the door always put you back in your cell after you left the portal, so your world's Loki should have gone back there again."

"Only when you changed things, you made another world." Even the woman Pepper, weighs in. "So it's that world's Loki that would have been on the run. – That's what you mean, right Tony?"

His lips are stiff as he speaks. "I opened Schroedinger's box. There should have been two cats."

"Two Lokis, yeah." Tony-in-the-Wheelchair waves a hand. "So that means you were right all along: It was all a simulation of your dad's."

All of it, yes: He never met the young Tony, nor yet the young Bruce. When he made the changes in their world, it was not into his own world that he returned, but into another part of the simulation. All along he has been fooled, by a deception Odin made merely to divert him. ...And it worked.

His anger must show on his face, because Bruce's voice is sympathetic when he speaks. "If you think about it, he had to have done it because he loves you."

"No, he did it to keep me busy." His own voice is bitter. "Because he did not believe me capable of success in the real world."

Modell again: "Some simulations can be quite challenging. There's a whole business devoted to making them: They're called video games."

Yes, these mortal "games". He has heard about them; they are not worthy of the attention of a god. "Oh really?' His tone is as polite as he can make it. "How does one escape from these 'video games'?"

Tony-in-Bed, helpful: "Well with games, you can turn them off."

And Bruce: "I'm guessing with this, you have to defeat whatever the final challenge is. – Like in a game, where you win the final Boss battle, and then the credits roll." He looks at Loki. "Any idea what the final Boss would be?"

"Odin." Tony-in-the-Bed speaks. "Because where else are you going to go after you figure out it's a simulation, than back to Asgard ask questions."

"And because Loki hates his dad," Tony-in-the-Wheelchair adds helpfully.


	11. Level Up!

"Of course the question is, what kind of boss battle will it be?" Tony-in-the-Bed, holds forth. "There's your Bait-And-Switch Boss. – That would be if you end up having to fight Thor maybe, instead of your dad."

Modell interrupts. "Actually, I think Odin's more likely to use Thor as a preliminary boss. Loki's going to have to beat him first before he can move up to the final level."

Thor, meanwhile, looking more and more confused. Modell looks at him. "So, you feeling any sudden desire to fight with your brother?"

"I am not." His face it troubled, voice heartfelt, as it has been, Loki remembers, every time there was conflict between them. "I want nothing more than that we should live in peace. – That we all should live in peace, and that we should be a family again."

The fool: He knows why that cannot happen. Loki would tell him again, but Tony-in-the-Wheelchair speaks first.

"From what I've seen of Odin, I'm guessing he'll be a real dick about this. Loki'll get up there and he won't get to fight him at all." He laughs. "If this were a real video game, he'd be the kind that gets beaten in a cut-scene."

Tony-in-Bed: "Well if this were a real video game, Loki would have been fighting battles all the way through, but all he's been doing you say, is just going in and out of portals."

"Maybe there is no final boss." From Modell again: "Or maybe Loki hasn't reached him yet."

"No, he's reached him," says Tony-in-the-Wheelchair. "Odin's got to know Loki well enough that he realizes he'll have figured this thing out by now. What else is he going to do but go back to Asgard with his brother and demand some answers?"

Answers. From an Odin who is not real. "What if, mayhap, there is no end to this so-called 'game?" Loki's voice is bitter. The more he thinks about this, the more it convinces: Odin would like nothing better than to have the Trickster confined, and for all eternity. "What if no matter what I do here, I will still be unable to leave?"

Thor nods. "My brother makes a good point." He looks at Tony-in-the-Bed. "Can you answer it, Friend Tony? Or you..." A look at Tony-in-the-Wheelchair. "...Or you, my other Friend Tony?"

Another nod, this time from Modell's life-partner, who has been silent thus far. "Makes sense to me too. ...Only aren't most video games made to keep you interested?" He throws a grin at his partner. " That's sure the impression I get when I have to call you to bed four times, and you keep on saying, 'just one more level.'"

"That's just on CoD." A shove from Modell almost pushes his partner off his chair. "You know I can't just leave whenever I want, when it's multi-player."

"The point remains:" The Midgardians banter in their silliness. Loki raises his voice to be heard above them. "What if I will never be allowed out of this simulation? What if it is a stratagem merely, and Odin's way of keeping me confined forever?"

"Okay lets think about this." Tony-in-the-Wheelchair nods. "What would you do if you found out it was?" -

It is, he is very sure of it. He has been trapped here for Odin's amusement. The monster is contained, nevermore to threaten the peace of Asgard. -

"He'd probably lie down in a fetal position and never do anything." Modell looks around, to nods from the others. "Like the Crimson Chin in Episode 17."

From Tony-in-the-Wheelchair: "Yeah, you'd be depressed as hell. - And didn't you say that's how you were before Odin gave you the portal?"

He did not. The God of Chaos is never idepressed as hell./i "I was somewhat unhappy."

"...So Odin didn't have to even give you a portal if that's what he wants. He already had you confined without it."

"Plus," from Tony-in-Bed, "supposing he did trap you in a portal. Wouldn't your brother get worried after a while when you weren't in your cell? I don't know if you've noticed," he says, "but for some reason Point Break really likes you."

"I would." Thor nods confirmation. "My brother is capable of reformation. He should not be confined anywhere, not forever."

"Exactly," Tony-in-Bed says. "So in other words, Odin hasn't just lost the Bad Seed, he stands to lose his heir as well. Loki, Thor, do either of you think he would do that?"

That Thor would come after him... Loki thinks about it. Does it make sense? He pictures the door of his cell, the worried face of the Thunderer, that he saw outside it, at least once a day. iWould/i he have come after him?

"I would have done." It is as though his brother reads his mind. "You know I would have, brother."

"I know nothing of the kind." Loki stands, suddenly irritated beyond bearing. "You are creatures of the All-Father's making, all of you. You speak his words, do the actions he has scripted for you. And I wanted to believe what All-Father said, I had just as well stayed and been his puppet all along."

He turns away, goes to a window (which on this floor at least, is still whole). Outside, the lights of Odin's simulated New York twinkle like the ones he remembers from the real place. Dimly through the glass, he hears the sound of horns in traffic. From inside, he smells the scent of wood-smoke from a fireplace that seems as real as all else in this pretended-universe.

That he should be trapped... That he should be trapped so easily: It rankles, with pain stronger than any he has felt in a long time. He should never have opened that door; he knew when first he saw it, that it was a diversion merely, for one who had become inconvenient.

But the picture of his brother's worried face between the bars of the cell-window will not leave his mind and, with it, the words he said after he pulled him from the SHIELD-plane: "Come home, brother. Come home to Asgard..." There were tears in his voice, too genuine to be feigned by one with the Thunderer's guileless nature.

In the end, one must take a chance. He has risked much in his long lifetime: Loki remembers the deal he made with the workman who would have rebuilt Asgard's walls. He thinks about the time he promised his head to the dwarfs, ere they fashioned Mjolnir. Never before has he shied from risk, not when the stakes were high enough. And will he let Odin defeat him so easily now? And he continues he will find a door: It will lead to another level of the simulation, or it will lead back to Asgard. And he gives up and remains here, he he remains trapped regardless.

"I will continue." He turns back to the simulations who are his companions: There is Tony-in-the-Wheelchair, who has become more friend than any he remembers from his time on Asgard. There is his brother, or the facsimile of him that Odin has created. "Thor, will you take me back to Asgard? I would see what fresh challenge All-Father has prepared for me."


	12. Roll End Credits

"It just occurred to me: What if Odin's a playable character." Tony-in-the-Bed looks at his life partner.

"What do you mean," Bruce asks him. "What are you thinking, Tony?"

Tony shrugs. "I was just thinking. – Wondering how an Asgardian would program something like this."

"Well it would be magic, not programming." Other-Tony, from across the room. "That's what they use on Asgard..."

"Yeah, but what's cool:" Bruce interrupts. "Maybe this whole thing wasn't pre-planned ahead of time. Maybe Odin in there somewhere, and he can watch, and change the variables according to how Loki plays."

Loki frowns. The thought of All-Father watching his ever reaction is distasteful.

"That would be a programmer's dream." Modell speaks excitedly: "Imagine being able to tailor a game directly to each individual player... – Being player and programmer at the same time. I'm almost jealous of Odin."

"We don't know that such is indeed the case. All-Father is busy." Loki parrots the words he has heard his whole life: His father is "busy", he cannot take time away from the throne for a child's petty concerns. "I doubt he would forsake his duties for a mere simulation."

"We all know how much you hate your dad." Tony from the first step of this simulation, who has been his companion now, for so long. "You're never going to to give him credit for anything." He looks at the other Tony. "So what you're saying is maybe Odin's been playing this game right along with Loki? Like, running it and playing at the same time?"

"Basically." His alternate version looks at Thor. "Would your dad do that?"

"And he did it..." – Thor's simple blue eyes are troubled, his face creased. – "And All-Father gave of his time like that brother, I know it would be because he cares about you. He wants to spend time with you, all of us do, Loki."

Oh yes he does! The bitter thoughts crowd Loki's mind. Odin is so _desperate_, always to spend time with him, that he left him to grow to adulthood without knowing the truth of his parentage. He took the time to plan a coronation for Thor, that he must have understood would never, and could never end in his Kingship, but he could not be bothered to spare a moment to tell his younger child that he was of Jotun descent. E'en when he did tell him, why was that? Only because Loki had penetrated his precious Treasure Vault.

"All-Father has his heir." His voice is low. "He has no need for a Frost Giant's issue."

Thor stands. He puts out his hands, moves forward. "Brother..."

Loki turns away. There will be no more of these lies. And the Thunderer wishes to delude himself, he may, but Loki Silvertongue is cleverer.

"That's not what I meant anyway." Tony-From-This-World's voice cleaves through the tension in the room. "I was thinking how much more control this gives Loki: If nothing's set in stone here, that means he's in control of the outcome."

Loki swallows. "I am not. Odin would never allow it."

"Yeah, depending how the game's set up, he might not have any choice." Bruce waves a hand. "You either give the players freedom, or you don't. You can't give it first and then take it away."

"Like you could be one of the guys that designed Call of Duty, but a player could still hand you your ass." Tony-From-The-First-World grins. "I did that one time," he says. "I played one of the guys from the design team and I kicked his ass. – Of course I was also hacking the game at the time... – C'mon, Reindeer Games, at least give it a try. You can't say you wouldn't like the chance to hand your dad his ass."

Bruce's interruption: "Metaphorically, of course. It's not a fighting game, remember? I say you go back, Loki. You see what kind of puzzle the All-Father has for you this time. Then you totally beat it."

Modell looks at Thor. "You think Odin'll let your brother out after one more battle?"

Eager Thor is ready with the proper, approved answer. "And my brother shows he has changed, Father will release him. I am sure of it"

_Changed_. It is a strange word that can mean many things. He is different than he was when he came in here, that much at least, Loki knows. Has he changed in the way All-Father would want him to? – Does he, even wish to have done? – Of that, there is no way to be sure.

* * *

When he returns to "Asgard", Loki brings the Tony from the first world, and his woman. They have been with him, it seems, for his entire time in here. He knows not what they are, whether beings in their own right or simulations merely. Perhaps they are figments of his own imagination, hallucinations dreamed up so that he would not be alone. Whatever they are, he feels he knows them now. And they have called themselves his friends.

Thor returns with them as well. He kneels at the base of All-Father's throne and he presents Loki to him as before. And is this the real Odin who looks down at him, Loki wonders, in this false pretense of a throne room he has returned to? Does he care if his younger son has "changed"? – Does he in fact, even deign to grace him with his presence? This time, Loki hesitates not to kneel, so intent is he upon having an end to this. He bows his head, raises it only after All-Father grants leave, looks up into the face of the one he once thought father.

Odin is careworn, older-looking than he'd remembered. He looks down, and a smile lights his wrinkled face. Something that looks like tenderness shines in the one eye that is visible.

"My son, you have returned."

Loki meets his gaze. "I return merely that I may leave."

Behind Odin, unglimpsed until now, there is a door. Like the last one he saw here, it is grand in keeping with its surroundings; like the last one, it was never here before until now. The old man gestures to it. "Go my son, the door awaits."

"Just like that?" Surprising, the interruption comes from the woman Pepper. "Tony, did you ...Do you buy this for a minute?"

Tony's voice: "Shhh."

Loki stares at the door. "It is too easy." His gaze flicks All-Father. "Why pray, should I trust you? Did you not lie before, about my very parentage?"

"I lied." Odin nods. "Many times since, I have regretted it. I thought to protect you only."

To protect... The thought sticks in his mind. It is too close to what he did himself, with the child Bruce.

"I thought you a child, incapable of understanding. I thought there would be time and enough to correct my oversight."

As he thought himself, when he made those first changes to the simulation... - Wherefore these thoughts, Loki asks himself? From whence this sudden identification with All-Father's intentions?

...And more to the point, why should he trust him, when he has lied in the past? Loki looks at the door.

"Do not doubt, my son." Odin sounds very old. "The door is yours, you may choose to take it. Will you trust, Loki? Will you take the chance that others besides yourself have learned from their mistakes?"

"I made no mistakes." E'en as he says the words, Loki knows they are not true. Mistakes he has made, and he has learned from them. "Say rather," he corrects himself, "my only mistake was to trust you before."

Still, it is a lie. The child Bruce died in the one simulated world, because he was careless in his treatment of him. How is he, then, so very different from All-Father?

Softly, he speaks. "I will never call you Father. I trust you not," – And as he speaks, he moves forward, hand outstretched to find the door. – "nor will I ever serve you."

"I served you once, old man." His hand on the door-latch, he turns back to Odin, now behind him. "Or rather, you used me. How did that work out for you?"

All he sees is the old man's head shaking. "No better than it works for any," Odin says, "when they would use another. I pray you and your brother will be comrades, rather than either of you expecting the other to serve."

"All-Father, we will!" From far below, Loki hears the Thunderer's voice. Naive Thor, trusting, innocent, _good_ Thor, who is gulled so easily and so often. What will it be like when such as he assumes the throne? He will need protection, for his own sake, as well as for the realm's.

"Thor trusts too easily," he murmurs and, before the words are out of his mouth, comes Odin's response:

"That is why he needs you, my son."

Loki lifts the latch and pushes the door open. From inside, a dimness grown unfamiliar after his long absence. The cell again? It looks like it, certainly.

He turns to meet Odin's gaze. "Another lie, All-Father?"

"It is what you make it," the old man says, "as is your life, my son."

"Brother..." Thor, or his simulation speaks. "I would bid you farewell."

"Why," asks Friend-Tony. "Unlike us, you're on the other side too."

His words are true. E'en Loki returns to Midgard, and to the Tony Stark there, it will not be his Tony. It will not be the one who has stayed with him, and adventured with him, and returned with him, twice so far, to Asgard. "I would bid you farewell." The words leave his lips unthought.

"A hug!" Thor again, his enthusiasm ever unprompted.

Tony puts out his hand. "You might do some good things, Reindeer Games, at least if you pick some good partners the next time around."

He takes the outstretched hand. "We do not part yet. I am very sure this is another deception." But he is not. He has looked already, and it is the cell in verity. He has seen the walls, the cot and table, the outer door. Even, he has glimpsed the window in the outer door, and the two faces peering through it.

"Do me a favor." It is the woman Pepper. "When you see Tony in your world, try not to throw him off anything while his suit is broken."

"This time I am sure," says Thor. "My brother will fight on the same side as we."

"I will not be an Avenger. I am not a mortal to fight among such." Loki tries to pull his hand away from the woman. He could force himself free, but he would not. Then when Pepper puts her arms around him, he is not surprised. What surprises him is when she pulls him down and Tony joins the hug.

"My friends," he says softly. "I wonder if I will find your like when I leave the portal."

"Exactly like us," Tony says.

No, he thinks, not exactly, for they will not share history with him like their counterparts. "And I meet them, I will treat them well for your sake."

He crosses the threshold of the portal and crossing, he sees the outer door already opening. Thor enters; after him, Odin follows.

"All-Father." Inside him, suddenly, a child's longing. Loki kneels, unbidden. "You did not have to come," he says. "You are busy Father, I know."

"In truth, I came because your brother asked me to."

Ere Loki can feel the anger prompted by the words, Thor opens the outer door and enters. He puts his hands on Loki's shoulders, pulls him to a standing position.

"I stayed because I chose to," All-Father continues. "Because I would see what the Sly One did when given a world of his own to make free with." His voice softens. "You have learned wisdom, my son."

"No thanks to you." Standing, Loki does not move away from the Thunderer. He does not move nearer his father.

"Thanks to yourself," All-Father says. "Thanks only to yourself."

"And is my brother free then?" Thor too, stays where is is, and close to Loki.

Odin nods. "As free as you or I, son."

"Brother, did you hear that?" Brilliant, the smile that splits the face of the Thunderer, as he turns and takes both Loki's hands. "What would you do first with your freedom?"

What? Oh, so many things come to mind: A night in his own bed again, a meal of the foods he likes, rather than the bread and small beer that are a prisoner's fare, perhaps a visit to his adoptive mother Frigga. Loki smiles. "Mayhap I will become an Avenger."

Amusing, the look of surprise that crosses the Thunderer's face. "You were not asked."

Loki hears a laugh and turns, catching his father's eye. He looks back at Thor. "And I wish it, it will happen."

* * *

My interpretation of Odin is based a lot on the one in Mike Vasich's book "Loki". In Vasich's book, he's almost as manipulative as Loki, only his intention is to bring order, rather than chaos. Frankly, I think Marvel movie-verse makes him out way too "sweet" and "fatherly". There's a limit to how much time you can give to good Daddying and still make the hard decisions for the Nine Realms.


End file.
